Mictlantecuhtli- Aztec GodDeity"Lord of Mictlan"

Lord of the Dead

Mictlantecuhtli appears as a blood-spattered skeleton wearing a conical headdress of paper and owl feathers, his liver hanging exposed from his torso. He sits in his hall of bones alongside his consort Mictecacihuatl, receiving all souls who did not die in ways that sent them elsewhere. Warriors who fell in battle accompanied the sun. Those who drowned went to Tlaloc. But these were the exceptions. Everyone who simply lived and died descended to Mictlantecuhtli.

His realm lay to the north, the direction of cold and darkness: a subterranean expanse of bone-dry plains and perpetual night where nothing grew. There was no judgment at its gates, no weighing of the heart. Kings and commoners made the same descent.

The Nine Descents

When an Aztec died of old age or disease, the soul began a four-year journey downward through nine levels of the underworld. At the first, the dead crossed a wide river called Apanohuaia, guided by a yellow dog sacrificed and buried alongside its master for this purpose. Without the dog, the soul wandered the riverbank forever.

Beyond the river the way grew terrible. Two mountains crashed together without warning, and the soul had to slip between them in the instant they parted. A slope of obsidian cut the feet raw. Deeper still, a freezing wind called Itzehecayan sliced through the soul like knives. Whatever warmth the living world had left behind was gone. Jaguars devoured the hearts of those too weak to continue.

The living helped their dead through offerings at prescribed intervals: food and paper banners laid at the graveside. Only after four years did the soul reach the ninth level, where Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl waited in their hall of bones. Not torment. The peaceful cessation of all wandering.

Guardian of the Bones

When Quetzalcoatl descended to retrieve the bones of past humanity and create the people of the Fifth Sun, Mictlantecuhtli set him impossible tasks: blow a conch shell that had no holes, circle the underworld four times. Quetzalcoatl called on worms to bore holes and bees to make the shell sound. The tasks were done. Mictlantecuhtli released the bones. He was a god of his word.

But as Quetzalcoatl fled upward, the death lord sent quail to startle him. The Feathered Serpent stumbled and the bones shattered across the ground in uneven pieces. He gathered the broken fragments and carried them to Tamoanchan. There the goddess Cihuacoatl ground them to a fine meal in a jade bowl. The gods drew blood from their own bodies and let it drip over the bone dust. From this mixture of death and divine sacrifice, the people of the Fifth Sun took shape and drew breath.

Because the bones had shattered unevenly, humans were born in different sizes. Because they were fashioned from the substance of the dead, they would always return to Mictlantecuhtli.

Preparing the Dead

The body was dressed in paper garments painted with symbols of the underworld and dusted with red ocher. A jade bead was placed in the mouth to serve as a heart in the afterlife. A yellow dog was sacrificed to guide the soul across the first river. The body was cremated, its ashes placed in an urn with the grave goods.

For four years the family returned to make offerings at prescribed intervals, sustaining the traveler they could no longer see. After the fourth year, when the soul had reached the ninth level, the family's obligations ended. Mictlantecuhtli had received what was always his.